The One Where Gale and Peeta Go Fishing
by freeProphe
Summary: Gale and Peeta go fishing. Well, kind of.


**The One Where Gale and Peeta Go Fishing**

**by freeProphe**

"This is disgusting," Peeta decides. In one hand, he's gingerly holding a fishing hook between two fingers –in the other, he's attempting to keep hold on a live, wriggling earthworm. His face is set in a seemingly permanent grimace of disgust. "Why am I doing this, exactly?"

"Because it's better to use live bait," Gale answers. He's kneeling on a sad patch of grass near the shore of a lake, pawing through the mud. His hands and arms are covered in the stuff, and there's a streak of dirt across one of his cheeks. "And would you shut up? You're been bitching for an hour? Do I need to throw you in the water?"

"No," Peeta sighs. He's beginning to regret even agreeing to go fishing with Gale. Honestly, the only reasons he's here is because of Katniss. He hadn't been able to say no to her when she'd come to him five days ago, looking decidedly distraught.

"_What's wrong?" he asked immediately. He moved aside to let her in the house before leading her towards the kitchen._

"_I'm worried about Gale," she admitted, after settling down into one of the chairs. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible, even if he was shouting expletives in his mind. "He's been really weird lately. I mean, he's been weird ever since we. . . got back, but this is different. He won't even talk to me about it, and I've asked him about it a lot. He just says he's fine."_

"_Maybe there's really nothing going on," Peeta suggested hopefully. He did not enjoy talking about Gale. He would rather go through another Hunger Games than talk about Gale._

"_It's not nothing," she insisted. "We used to talk about everything."_

"_Maybe it's something he feels like he can't talk to you about," he said._

_Katniss looked up at him, a tiny, conniving smile playing at her lips. "Like a guy problem."_

"_I guess that's a possibility," he stammered nervously. Her smile widened into a smirk, and he cursed inwardly. Nothing good ever came of a smug girl._

"_Well, if it _is_ a guy problem, maybe he'd talk to another guy about it," Katniss said, all false-innocence and guile._

"_Probably not," Peeta said. "Guys don't talk about their problems."_

"_Well, maybe he just needs someone to hang out with."_

"_Sure. . ."_

"_Great! You just need to offer to help go foraging or something! I'm sure he wouldn't mind the help!" Katniss exclaimed, rising. "Thanks for the help!"_

He didn't know how it happened, but one second he was staring at Katniss, completely dumbfounded, and the next, he was mumbling to Gale about how they should go "hunting or something." Gale had stared at him uncomprehendingly, and then he'd adopted that same little smirk Katniss had worn earlier. Peeta figured Gale must have taught it to her.

"_Okay, sure. Any friend of Katniss' is a friend of mine, right? How about you meet me by the fence Sunday at seven. We can go fishing."_

"So, Gale," Peeta says, once his worm is properly hooked and he's crouched next to Gale by the lake. "Katniss is worried about you."

Gale looked at him, half glaring. "So that's what this is about?"

"Yeah. . .?" Peeta says slowly. "Why else would I offer to hang out with you?"

Gale flushes a little under Peeta's curious scrutiny, but his eyes are hard where before they were open and friendly. He's gripping his fishing pole so tightly that his knuckles are white with the strain. "So this is all because Katniss. . . is worried about me."

"Yes!" Peeta says, more harshly than before. "So if you just tell me what your problem is, I can go home, and Katniss can stop worrying so much."

"You want me to tell you what my _problem_ is?" Gale growls. He turns to face Peeta, and his expression is stormy. "You really want to know?"

"Uh. . .sure?" Peeta says hesitantly.

"_This _is my _problem,"_ Gale snaps. He grabs Peeta's hand and brings it to his crotch in one quick movement. He's. . . oh, god, he's _hard. _Like, _hard enough to break through to a different plane of existence._

Peeta runs all the way home.

**I found most of this just chilling on my harddrive, and I thought to myself, "Self, how can I make this touching tale about Gale and Peeta fishing into something completely ridiculous and very mildly inappropriate and just a touch crack-ish without having to write fifty pages?"**

**It was going to be a slightly angsty story about Gale being in love with Peeta. Close enough, right?**

**-Prophe C:**


End file.
